Can't tell

Lorraine didn't accept the IOU from Ivy.

He looked extremely angry, lowering his voice and trying to express his displeasure as calmly as possible.

"How did you know the market price? Who told you?"

"Do you know that this is illegal? How do you define our relationship?"

"Did you spend all the money on medicine for Yu Mo? You didn't leave any for yourself?"

There were too many questions. The rare six consecutive questions left Ivy dumbfounded. She could only try to answer them one by one.

"I heard the price from someone else, but I want to keep it a secret. It's a secret of our conversation."

"…It's illegal, but you look very unwilling to accept it; relationship? Of course we are teacher and student - and ex-boyfriend and ex-girlfriend."

"Yes, the blood tonic in the new safe zone is too expensive. Can't the military consider increasing the supply of medicine?"

"The drug rations for the expedition personnel are now in accordance with the standards of ordinary soldiers," Lorraine said, "The prices of drugs obtained through other channels are commercial activities, and the government has no right to interfere. Don't change the subject. Take your IOU. Stupid, stupid, stupid. If stupid thoughts are like airplanes, your brain is now like the central airport of District 1."

“…”

Ivy wanted to raise her hand to take the IOU, but Lorraine paused, took the note in her palm before her.

She didn't understand: "Teacher?"

Lorraine had a blank expression on his face. He folded the paper into a small square and pressed it tightly with his fingers, just like pressing down on the small red beans on the top of a coconut, with an irresistible force.

"Leave this here with me," said Lorraine. "It's dangerous."

Now, Ivy understood.

She screamed, "Are you going to use it to threaten me? Are you going to report me with it? What crime? Suspected of having a girlfriend--"

"Ivy," Lorraine said, "You don't care about your reputation, I still have some self-respect - I won't threaten you in such a dark way. You really should go to the corner and do a handstand to pour out all the water that accidentally entered your brain when hunting - I take back my comment about hard work, you fool, stupid little penguin."

"What did you do with that piece of paper?"

"What else can I do except destroy it completely? It will suddenly disappear in your hands, or be picked up by someone with ulterior motives," Lorraine said, "Do you want everyone to think that I am your male prostitute? Or do you want others to know that we are playing this illegal transaction in private? Calm down, I still have some dignity and don't want to lose it with you."

Ivy took one last look at the IOU and reluctantly believed his explanation.

But Lorraine did not destroy the paper. He put the thin piece of paper into his wallet as if it was a real huge sum of money.

Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, she saw Lorraine open the blood tonic.

In his hands, such an expensive, rare and priceless thing was like opening a bottle of glucose solution. As soon as Ivy jumped up, Lorraine handed her the blood tonic and said, "Drink it."

Ivy explained: "I don't need it now, it's already-"

"Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, the military will be in charge of divorce visits," Lorraine asked, "Are you sure your anemia won't make you say something you shouldn't say?"

Ivy was stunned: "What? What is a divorce return visit?"

"That's the trouble with marrying a soldier," Lorraine said. "Just like the initial marriage application, after the divorce application is submitted, a professional will come to inquire about the reason for the divorce. Generally speaking, this step will be before the divorce application is approved, during the divorce cooling-off period. But you and I are both in the wasteland, so the relevant personnel arranged this process later. Also, don't you want to see the mate selection intention form I wrote at the beginning? They will bring it to you for inspection this time."

Ivy thought of something and said, "I've heard before that marriages with military personnel must remain faithful."

"Both parties must remain faithful," Lorraine put the bottle of blood tonic to her dry lips, motioning her to drink it, "disloyalty on either side will bring punishment."

Ivy said, "I'm not unfaithful."

"Well," Lorraine said, "but if you want a smooth divorce, you'd better cooperate with them tomorrow."

"What do they want to do?" Ivy asked. "What questions will they ask?"

"Usually it's about the relationship between the two parties, and some clichés are not excluded," Lorraine said, "Our situation is special. Even though I have already written an application and successfully dissolved our marriage, some stubborn old men in the army still think that we separated out of spite."

Ivy didn't want to drink the blood tonic, but it had been opened. The opened blood tonic must be consumed within two hours, otherwise it would immediately lose its effectiveness. She couldn't bear to waste it, and she didn't want to perform poorly in tomorrow's interrogation as Lorraine said.

Poor performance could invalidate their already approved divorce petition.

Ivy followed Lorraine's hand and drank the bottle of blood tonic. The slightly sweet and fishy taste went down her throat. Lorraine's eyes fell on her neck for a long time, watching her eating and swallowing movements, and then he looked away after a while.

"Rest here tonight," Lorraine said calmly. "There are surveillance cameras everywhere outside. If you leave wearing my pants, they will know what happened as soon as they see it."

Ivy asked, "Was it not suspicious that I stayed at your place overnight? How are you going to explain it to them tomorrow? Did we talk all night? Divorced couples, talking all night long?"

“It’s not impossible.”

Ivy: “…”

"At least, tomorrow morning, Xin Lan will bring you a pair of pants. It's better than you going out wearing pants that reach your chest," Lorraine motioned for her to check the time. "It's so late now, Xin Lan needs to rest. You've worked before, so you probably don't like being woken up at this time, right?"

Ivy looked at him in surprise: "You actually have empathy."

Lorraine said, "Now, go to bed and get some rest."

"And you?"

Lorraine said, "What do you think?"

Ivy couldn't bring herself to ask him to sleep on the floor. He had just been injured and his wounds hadn't healed yet. It was too cruel to let him sleep on the floor.

Lorraine also disagreed with letting her sleep at the bottom. The blood tonic could replenish a lot of blood, but it couldn't replenish the brain. According to him, Ivy needed to be clear-headed to face the review with him at ten o'clock tomorrow.

Ivy, whose blood, strength and energy had been restored, began to regret taking the blood tonic in the second half of the night. She was awakened by the heat in her quilt. Lorraine was like a big heater when she held her. Her muscles were much softer when they were relaxed than when they were tensed. The bed was not big, but the standard size for the army. In order to avoid falling off, Ivy could only get closer to Lorraine.

Compared to these, the worst thing is the desire to get closer and the subconscious actions. A hundred years ago, an Internet philosopher had a very classic phrase, which roughly means that once you have tasted something, your life will be shaped; in simple terms, it is addiction.

Ivy felt like she was somewhat addicted, not to Xingyin, but purely to Lorraine herself; after being woken up by the heat, she stared at the ceiling with wide eyes, and suddenly remembered the first time she and Lily tried alcohol as an adult, it was pungent, spicy and intoxicating, just like Lorraine.

It was so strange that making love again and again, or rather, deep communication and exchange with Lorraine, made the rusty gears in her brain turn slowly, pulling out a line of colorful things that made her panic and uneasy.

Ivy was afraid of its real name.

To admire an indifferent person is the cruelest punishment in the world.

Ivy's life was too short.

She knew her possible fate. Suddenly, an unknown genetic disease broke out and she died.

Just like butterflies, butterflies born in the north in winter can live up to eleven months, while butterflies in tropical regions may only live for three or four days.

She is an unlucky tropical butterfly.

We should not waste our limited life on meaningless emotions.

Ivy turned around and sighed in the darkness, and found that this was really relaxing.

Lorraine, who she thought was asleep, asked, "Can't sleep?"

Ivy said, “It’s OK.”

"You've rolled over four times, sighed twice, and touched my nipples three times," Lorraine said. "That doesn't sound good."

Ivy: "...It's hard to see in the dark. I didn't mean to do that."

"Don't turn over and try to play pancake on my bed," Lorraine said. "If you want to eat Chinese food, I will ask if there is a chef who can cook Chinese food tomorrow."

Ivy's eyes widened.

Today should be their last night together.

This is the last step of the divorce process. After it is completed, they will be truly and completely separated. Team Green will return to the safe zone to recuperate for two months. Lorraine's military operations will be kept secret. He will most likely rest and vacation in a special sanatorium for military officers.

The two lines intersected briefly, and then continued to run parallel as if nothing had happened.

She said nothing, and Lorraine did not ask any more questions. She just raised her hand and touched her hair in the dark, carefully, from the roots to the ends.

"Team members who are prone to anemia will be provided with professional blood supplements," Lorraine said. "Xin Lan has sent the application form to your mailbox. Remember to check and fill it out. After the application is successful, you can get two extra free blood supplements every month - but the effect is not as good as the one you used today."

Ivy said, "Thank you, teacher, I..."

She paused, unable to speak. After a moment of confusion, she repeated, "Thank you."

Lorraine held Ivy's face in her hands, and repeatedly rubbed the skin at her jawline with her fingertips until the area turned red.

In the end, there was no kiss. He restrained himself and stepped back. Ivy's hair brushed against his lips, a silent contact.

The ambiguity of hair surpasses everything.

It grows from deep inside the human body, yet it has no sense of touch, even if it is kissed, eaten, cut short, hidden, imprisoned, trampled, ravaged,...

Humans don’t know.

In this quiet night, Lorraine suddenly couldn't tell whether the touch just now was a high genetic attraction.

Maybe, maybe not.

Now he could see Ivy clearly, smell her, touch her.

But she didn't want to obey Gu Qianwang and let him do whatever he wanted to her.

He closed his eyes and heard Ivy whisper, "You really don't remember what you wrote on your mate selection form?"

Lorraine said, “You’ll see tomorrow.”

Retelling can easily lead to misunderstanding.

Ivy thought he might be tired, so she was very considerate and took the initiative to say, "Good night, teacher."

"Goodnight, Ivy."

Lorraine didn't lie to her.

The next day, when Ivy climbed out of Lorraine's bed with sleepy eyes, she saw the documents on the table - they were packed in a small metal silver box, looking formal and cold.

This kind of confidential document requires Lorraine's or Ivy's pupil print to unlock. Ivy used this high-end encrypted lock for the second time and glared at it for a few times. The small metal and silver box placed on the table finally opened slowly.

At the top was Ivy's mate selection form, which had many strict requirements written on it, just like a high school student would feel ashamed of his or her excellent elementary school essays. Ivy didn't look at it too much, and quickly opened it, accurately finding the mate selection form belonging to Lorraine, which was pressed to the bottom.

She unfolded it and froze.

Before this, Ivy had imagined many requirements for Lorraine's mate selection form:

For example, "a female warrior with excellent marksmanship", "tenacious", "extremely smart", "excellent academic performance"...

And so on and so forth.

Because Lorraine is demanding and has a lot of rules and regulations. He looks like the kind of person who would write four pages of paper to strictly formulate a partner - just like Ivy's schedule that almost no one can match.

Caroline's mate selection form was written very simply.

The ink was the familiar dark blue color of the night sky, and he even wrote on a paper form instead of filling out the electronic version directly.

"Women who are alive, can take care of themselves, and can chat"

Ivy: “…What is this?!”